Hi… I’m new here and still trying to wrap my head around the possibility that my MYRIAD of health problems are as a result of Candida overgrowth.

Where do I begin?

I used to be a health nut. I was a devotee of the Marilu Henner- Total Health Makeover commitment to health for years. I was a marathon runner. And a regular at the gym. Though, now that I think about it, I truly always felt that being healthy was an ongoing ‘battle’. Despite running hundreds of miles combined with a low fat diet I still had a really hard time losing weight and have never been ‘thin’.

And it makes me wonder… if this is Candida, how long has it actually been around? I’m 36 years old- nearly 37. Since I was 14 I’ve had these dark circles under my eyes. Chest, shoulder and back acne that I’ve tried for years to be rid of, and sadly for over 20 years it has prevented me from wearing dresses and tank tops. Not to mention the unending fatigue, depression, mood swings, anxiety and weak immune system.

In the last two years however, I almost feel like I’m going a little crazy. And I think my family Dr. looks at me sideways every time I go to his office with a new theory of why I feel like crap at random.

The past couple years haven’t been easy. In 2008 my marriage of 12 years began to fall apart. By January of 2009 the separation process had begun. My job was extremely stressful in the midst of a global recession. My 2 year old son was very demanding. And I simply lost my appetite due to stress. I lost a lot of weight very rapidly, and coupled with night sweats and fatigue, my Dr. began to get concerned about lymphoma or another cancer possibly. But it turned out to be not the case. I had pneumonia at the end of that winter and also during this time, my periods had become completely infrequent with all kinds of irregular bleeding in between. My iron stores began to deplete. In March of 2009 I was taken to hospital by ambulance due to sever abdominal pain which caused me to collapse. Diagnosis: Acute Gallstone Pancreatitis. A gall stone (I didn’t even know I had gallstones) had be expelled and lodged itself in my pancreatic duct. A week in hospital and surgery to remove my gallbladder and I was on the mend.. I thought. But the abnormal bleeding was really starting to cramp my newly single style. So, my OBGYN prescribed massive doses of the high estrogen BCP, Ovral. This didn’t help. That summer my dog died, followed by my beloved father, suddenly of a heart attack. And while I was at the funeral, the separation agreement was being finalized. Between the rounds and rounds of antibiotics for the Pneumonia, the hospital stay, the infected suture, the massive birth control pill extravaganza, and the stress of losing my father, it’s safe to say that I had enough factors in action to trigger a Candida epidemic in body- though, at the time, it didn’t even cross my mind.

At the time of my father’s death, I completed a half marathon, and this was pretty much the last time I really ran. Fall 09. Since then, every time I go for a run, my muscles take over a week to painfully recover. That fall, the daily diarrhea started and only seemed to get worse. It was at this time that my vitality really started to wane. For around 4 months I would experience random night sweats, and early 2010, when the BCP failed to control my irregular periods and uterine bleeding I got a progesterone releasing IUD, which I now understand provokes an inflammatory response from the body. Great. Plus hormones. Awesome. After dramatically losing a TON of hair (it looks like I have two lengths of hair now. lol and has stopped falling out at it’s previous alarming rate) and reading links of hair loss to from women on the same IUD I had it removed after only 5 mo. And eventually had a D&C and Cervial cauterization that has helped… but…

I was still feeling awful over all. No energy. Extremely low iron. And this is where it started to get less bothersome and more scary. About a year ago, I began to develop neurological symptoms. Weakness in my upper arms near the shoulder… i.e, my arm would get tired from brushing my teeth. Shakiness and tingling and zaps of electricity that would shoot into my right forearm. Muscle aching and twitching (all associated with Candida, I am now finding). So, I went to a neurologist. I recieved 3 MRI’s. An EMG to test for all the big bad neurological diseases. But it came back as- thank GOD- NO neuromuscular disease or abnormalities, no MS. No nothing. But my symptoms have not ceased. I began to notice in the last year that when I got out and party with alcohol, I get a RAGING hangover that literally incapacitates me. It feels like my whole body is shaky and all the neuro problems X10. That never used to happen. My night vision has gone. A year ago, I was documented as having perfect eye sight. I see eye floaters. My scalp is ALWAYS itchy. The acne has been horrible. Some mornings, I could HARDLY get out of bed. My poor 4 year old would sit downstairs and watch TV until I could get up… at 10 or sometimes even 11. Once I got going, I was sort of OK. But one day of housework would leave me exhausted and barely able to do anything for days. To top it off, my son has had chronic ear infections for 2 years for which he just finally had the ear surgery. So, we were sick every 2 weeks and on antibiotics ever 2 months. Sometimes for a few rounds of prescriptions because the antibiotics just didn’t seem to knock anything out. My moods are ok, but I get extremely irritable with my poor son and I just don’t seem to have the patience other mothers do. I’m exhausted all the time. Not to mention, the BRAIN FOG! And short term memory loss. I almost had to look up the name of our Prime Minister because I just couldn’t remember what it was, and I voted for him! I’ve had smatterings of headaches- I NEVER used to get headaches. My neck and shoulders are always horribly tight. I could go on and on… oh yeah.. the INSOMNIA!

So, is any of this sounding familiar??? Because, if it’s not this, my next guess was going to be Fibromyalgia… though, I’m almost starting to believe that even THAT is caused by this mother effing Candida rat bastard.

Jeez.. I never even realized how BAD it all was until I wrote it down just now. In fact, looking back on all of this now, I’m almost not even sure how the heck I even survived the last two years.

But I know this, I NEED to get better. One of the things that is kind of bothering me is viewing the Candida as a ‘battle’… a monster who needs to be eradicated. This is troubling to me for a couple reasons.

1) You’ve never be ‘rid’ of Candida, it simply needs to remain in balance with the good bacteria, because it’s everywhere and always will be. So, in a sense, I am kind of choosing to view this more as a rebalancing act.

2) Focusing on the battle makes me kind of lose sight of the good health I want to GAIN. I’ve just started meditating and it’s been tough to find a positive angle here. But then I started to think about how my body felt 5 years ago. And about having rosy cheeks again. And about being really slim again. And I almost feel like I’d like to focus on moving myself TOWARDS good health via healthy choices, vs being in some epic ‘battle’.. which we all know how the ‘war on drugs’ and ‘battles against cancer’ are going. I need to find some kind of loving way to approach all of this… But…

What I’m struggling with at the moment is believing that I CAN get back to perfect health, because it’s been so long since I’ve felt that, I’m almost giving up hope that it can happen… My family Dr. has failed me, I’m not sure what my naturopath can do, and I’m feeling pretty alone and confused about what is going on with my body, I just know that I’m too young to feel this old. And I just am not ‘right’.

Anyway, that’s me. Feel free to comment. I think I just needed to articulate this somehow…

Dear BB I can totally relate to so much of what you have said. I am in a hurry so this won;t be a long reply just now but I wanted to say that I thought I was going crazy too. I changed my diet and took various herbal remedies to support and detox my system. I am in england and had a test using the Aysra system, which comes from the US. It took several weeks before I could say that I felt better but am so glad that i took the action that I did. I also want to throw another suggestion in as it it something else i am trying to deal with – the peri-menopause. A lot of what you have said also links to the peri-menopause, when your hormones can cause all sorts of havoc. My research indicates that both can cause problems with the other, but which comes first?? i need to go now but good luck and ANY change to your diet will help and look into the supllements available. Helen

I didn’t read your full post, but I also went sorta crazy as well. Try the candida test (spitting in a glass of water) to see whether it looks like jelly-fish tentacles (in morning before eating/drinking anything). Candida sorta makes your body have the inability to cope with stresses/outside influences, so its very possible you may have it. Western doctor’s cannot really diagnose it!

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